Music Tourism in UK: $3.5 Billion Spent Every Year

WISH YOU
WERE HERE
M U S I C TO U R I S M ’ S CO N T R I B U T I O N
TO T H E U K ECO N O M Y
O CTO B E R 20 1 3

CONTENTS
1
IFPI Digital Music Report 2013
Forewords
– Jo Dipple, Chief Executive, UK Music
– Ed Vaizey MP, Minister for Culture,
Communication and Creative Industries
– Sandie Dawe, Chief Executive, VisitBritain
– Paul Latham, Chief Operating Officer,
Live Nation International Music
Introduction
Music Tourism in Perspective
Music Tourism in the UK
Music Tourism in the Nations and Regions
UK Music Recommendation
Methodology
Annex: Tables
6
8
9
10
12
14
35
50
64
67
82

WISH YOU
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5
David Cameron Photograph by Alessandro Serranò.
Couple in field. Photograph by Ghislain & Marie David de Lossy / cultura / Corbis.
MUSIC TOURISM
IN NUMBERS
Prime Minister
Rt. Hon.
David Cameron MP
[Music] is an
industry that is
an international
success story and
we should go on
backing it. It’s not
just the exports
that [it] provides
for this country.
It’s not just the
people [it] employs
in this country.
It’s the massive
and growing music
tourism, people
coming to Britain
to listen to
great acts.
£2.2 BILLION
£1.3 BILLION
6.5 MILLION
41%
£657
24,251
Total direct and indirect spend
generated by music tourism in 2012
Amount spent directly
by music tourists
Number of
music tourists
Proportion of live music
audiences that are music tourists
Average spend by overseas
music tourists while in the UK
Number of full time jobs sustained
by music tourism
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Throughout this project we have received
support from a wide range of individuals and
organisations that have provided datasets
essential to this analysis. These include:
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We have also enjoyed fruitful discussions
with members of UK Music’s Live Music
Group which have aided us in our analysis.
UK Music’s Live Music Group is comprised
of representatives from the following
organisations:
The Association of Independent Festivals
The Association of Festival Organisers
Concert Promoters Association
Agents Association
International Live Music Conference
The National Arenas Association
Production Services Association
Musicians Union
The Music Managers Forum
The analysis was carried out by Oxford
Economics.
In addition, we are hugely grateful for
the support offered by Professor Martin
Cloonan of the University of Glasgow and
Professor Simon Frith of the University
of Edinburgh who kindly acted as peer
reviewers during the project. Their advice is
reflected in the final methodological
approach outlined in this report.
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4 WISH YOU
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1
AEG Live
The Association of
Independent Festivals (AIF)
Symphony Hall, Birmingham
Arts & Festivals Management,
De Montfort University,
(with particular thanks to Richard Fletcher)
Glasgow Concert Halls
Live Nation
The National Arenas Association (NAA)
PRS for Music (The Performing Rights Society)
Sage Gateshead
See Tickets
Ticket Factory
Ticketmaster

This has the obvious effect of generating
wealth and maximising economic activity
with the attendant regenerative and
growth potential.
And with thousands of music tourists
flocking into an area, it has the knock on
effect of providing a vibrant culture – for
both visitors and locals.
British live music’s primary job is to put
on great shows which attract thousands
of music fans.
The by-product of that is to encourage
more of them to travel around Britain and
also for more tourists to visit this country
and help VisitBritain achieve its goal of
attracting another nine million more
tourists to these shores by 2020.
UK Music and VisitBritain are committed
to working with Government and their
agencies to design a strategy to maintain
and grow our advantage in music tourism.
WISH YOU
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7
Britain attracts
thousands of
tourists because
of our music
history. But, we
also attract
thousands because
we create some
of the best
music in the
world today.
Abbey Road crossing: music tourism in action. Photograph by Andy Rain.
Earlier this year I was in the back of a taxi
heading up to Abbey Road Studios. The
cabbie and I got chatting about the Beatles,
as you do, and just before he dropped me
off he pointed to a dozen or so youngsters
marching across the zebra crossing.
They crossed in front, with us patiently
waiting in the idling cab, they were four at
a time, taking pictures, laughing and joking.
People emulating The Beatles on their
Abbey Road album sleeve cover has
become another tick on the tourist list
when people visit London, like going to the
Tower of London or taking a trip on the Eye.
This country is full of similar destination
spots for the musically inclined traveller.
Outside of London, in Liverpool, Manchester
and Glasgow, the effects of music tourism
are just as pronounced. Tourists still flock
to the Salford Lads Club to pay homage to
The Smiths; many take the trip down
Manchester’s Whitworth Street to marvel
at where the Hacienda Club kick-started
a whole global dance movement and
the second summer of love.
In this research we’re not even counting
these people. This is something that we
could look at in future reports, but I think
it’s important to think about these
landmarks in this report to provide more
context. These are all strands of the UK’s
musical landscape of which we should be
incredibly proud. These landmarks are part
of our rich cultural heritage which enhance
our offering to visitors to the UK – musical
heritage is part of their journey to the UK.
PRS for Music established the Heritage
Award scheme in 2009 to recognise
important live music venues where iconic
bands and songwriters performed.
Earlier this year, a plaque was unveiled
at Imperial College to commemorate where
Queen performed their first concert in
London on 18 July 1970.
Previous awardees include Blur, Elton
John, Soul II Soul, UB40, Snow Patrol,
Faithless, James, Jethro Tull, Dire Straits
and Supergrass.
Britain attracts thousands of tourists
because of our music history. But we also
attract thousands because we create some
of the best music in the world today.
That means every year Britain is putting
on some of the most exciting gigs,
concerts and events in the world in a myriad
of world class and renowned venues and
festival sites.
Last year, I was at Heaton Park with
225,000 Stone Roses fans as they kicked
off their resurrection in Manchester. In the
mud and the rain, singing along to
Ian Brown, it was clear that not all these
fans were from Manchester - or even the
UK. They were musical tourists.
Checkout brilliant venues and festivals like
the Royal Albert Hall, the Roundhouse,
Glastonbury and Hyde Park.
This Report details the specific
contribution that live music events
make to tourism.
However, we know that the impact of
music on tourism can be broader, creating
a direct economic contribution to cities
and regions. Music has the capacity to
create a mutually reinforcing relationship
with other tourist related and cultural
activities in an area.
A packed gig, concert and festival
schedule feeding into a strong musical
culture in an area can provide many
valuable opportunities for local councils
and businesses to brand their locale.
FOREWORD
6 WISH YOU
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1
PRS for Music heritage award
presented to Queen at
Imperial College London,
L-R Roger Taylor, PRS Chair,
Guy Fletcher, Brian May.
Photograpy by Warren King
Jo Dipple, Ghostpoet and
Steve Lamacq at the AIM
Awards 2013, presenting
an award for Best
Independent Festival.
Photography by James Arnold
Jo Dipple
Chief Executive
UK Music

British music is a cultural asset that
inspires people overseas. Our musical
heritage is as much a part of our appeal as
Buckingham Palace or fish and chips.
Heritage doesn’t stop at castles and
stately homes: from the Roundhouse to
The Cavern Club, historic music moments
have been, and always will be, made in
Britain. After all, we are the second largest
exporter of music in the world.
Music is a global language and attracts
people to visit our cities and countryside.
Whether it’s Elgar at The Proms, The
Proclaimers at T in the Park or Manches-
ter’s club scene, music transcends all
boundaries and you don’t need to be fluent
in English to enjoy it.
Britain’s recent successes on the global
stage - Adele, Jessie J, Mumford & Sons,
Florence + The Machine - are all flying the
British flag overseas and helping attract
some of the 31 million tourists who come
to Britain. Not to mention the iconic artists
who put British music on the map –The
Rolling Stones, Elton John and The Who.
The Beatles are synonymous with our
musical heritage and have been
influencing musicians around the world for
decades. The current David Bowie
exhibition is proving to be one of the most
popular attractions in the V&A’s history.
In a VisitBritain survey, music was
highlighted as an integral part of Britain’s
culture and heritage. 44% felt it was a
cultural activity they would expect to be
‘produced’ in Britain. When asked about
musical activities, visitors chose a Beatles
tour in Liverpool, with those from
Argentina, Mexico and Brazil the keenest
participants. Meanwhile, South Africans,
Poles and Chinese visitors favoured
heading to Glastonbury.
Many overseas visitors have experienced
the live music scene across the UK, with
Brazilians the most active - 15% taking in
a performance, followed by Kiwis (12%)
and Norwegians (11%).
This research points to the huge potential
of music tourism to boost domestic and
overseas visitor numbers throughout the
country. Glastonbury is rightly world
famous, but what about the rest? There is
truly something for everyone. Fancy some
rock whilst holidaying in Scotland? Head
to RockNess in Inverness-shire. Love your
surfing as much as your music? Then it’s
Boardmasters in Cornwall for you.
The ‘Symphony of British music’ that was
the 2012 Olympic Games closing
ceremony was the perfect showcase for
our range of musical talent, and brought
home to us just how much British music
has influenced the world. We are centre
stage in the world’s live music industry.
Now, we need to capitalise on this
strength to welcome more overseas
visitors to enjoy the wealth of music
experiences here, immersing themselves
in our cultural heritage at the same time.
Music is a key ‘pillar’ in our GREAT
campaign alongside shopping, sport, food,
heritage and countryside, and features in
our global advertising. We recently
partnered ‘Rock in Rio’, one of the biggest
music festivals in the world, with a
Britain-themed Rock Street and a Beatles
tribute band re-enacting their famous
roof-top gig.
I welcome this report. It should act as a
catalyst to ramp up our activity and, with
the help of UK Music to forge partnerships
with producers, festival organisers,
venues and promoters, raise awareness of
our amazing live music scene. VisitBritain
is committed to working alongside UK
Music to ensure we maximise the benefits
from this largely untapped tourism
market.
SANDIE
DAWE
WISH YOU
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Sandie Dawe
Chief Executive
VisitBritain
This report
should act as a
catalyst to ramp
up our activity
and with the
help of UK
Music to forge
partnerships
with producers,
festival
organisers,
venues and
promoters to
raise awareness
of our amazing
live music
scene around
the world and
to encourage
more visitors
from overseas.
1
This year’s Glastonbury reminded us yet
again of just what a powerful force our
music industry is. Easily the world’s most
famous music festival, Glastonbury draws
in visitors from every corner of the globe,
contributes more than £100 million to the
economy annually and is a wonderful
celebration of the strength and diversity of
the UK’s live music industry.
But Glastonbury is only one example of
how the music industry’s position as one
of our most successful creative industries
is unquestionable. Adele’s “21” album
released in 2011 was the best selling album
globally for 2 years running.
Last year was the 5th time in 6 years that
a British act claimed the world’s top
selling album title, and 2012 saw UK
artists‘ share of global album sales
reach the highest levels on record. 2011
saw the O2 arena sell more tickets than
any other arena on earth, making it the
most popular music venue in the world
for 5 consecutive years.
Music is without question an essential
element of Britain’s tourism appeal, and it
is this ability of the UK’s music industry to
attract tourists from near and far to our
shores that is celebrated in this report.
The huge financial contribution to the UK
economy by the millions of music tourists
to the UK annually makes it very clear that
when combined, the music and tourism
industries are powerful drivers for growth.
The wonderful synergy that exists
between these two sectors is something
Government recognises, and the reason
why music is one of the major themes
of the current GREAT Britain campaign -
the Government’s most ambitious
international marketing campaign ever.
And Government is committed to
continuing its support for the growth of
both the music and tourism industries.
The introduction of the Government’s
Licensing Act has been credited with
doubling the number of musical festivals
over the last decade, we have extended
the range of performances that no
longer require a licence and through
Arts Council England we will be investing
over £70 million a year in music
organisations up to 2015.
The Culture Secretary, myself and the
Minister of State for Sport and Tourism
are working with colleagues across
government, as well as with committed
private sector partners, to ensure that we
provide the conditions in which both the
music and tourism sectors can continue
to thrive. Evidence, such as the research
contained in this report, will be of the
upmost assistance in helping us make the
case for continued support. I thank all of
those involved in putting together such
a comprehensive and informative look
at just what these two dynamic sectors
are capable of delivering.
FOREWORD
8 WISH YOU
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Ed Vaizey MP
Minister
for Culture,
Communication
and Creative
Industries
1

Focusing more on music tourism can only
help. But, I’m not sure our festivals and
concerts are necessarily benefitting from
any general bounce in cultural tourism.
If you want to go and see old buildings, they
are there whether you are travelling in July
or December.
Music is more of a specialist subject.
It takes focus – and a lot of determined
phone calls - to make sure your holiday
in Devon will also take in three days of
Glastonbury.
That might mean we have to think more
about how we market events overseas or
persuade someone in Taunton to travel all
the way up to T-in-the Park.
What we do know is that we have the skills
and imagination to put on the best shows
on the planet to attract visitors. Just look
at the Olympic Games opening ceremony.
It was spectacular and reminded the
World of not just the UK`s heritage but
also our indigenous creativity.
There is no shortage of that creativity in
these shores. We build great events from
scratch. And something like Download
Festival proves you can bring over the
overseas visitors. Even though there are
metal festivals in places like Germany,
Download is like a visit to Stonehenge for
metallers. Getting that mass of metal
together doesn’t happen easily, But it`s
not just the mega-festivals that have
the creative flair, the Association of
Independent Festivals team have some of
the most imaginative themed events
situated all over the UK.
People will travel further for the music
they like presented in a way that they like.
If we can persuade more people that is
what the UK is doing right now, we have
the building blocks for more specific music
campaigns.
Wish You Were Here can hopefully persuade
the powers that be that music is already
a powerful tourism tool that is generating
more than £2 bn in spending and boosting
local economies all over this country.
Imagine what could be achieved with a
little more backing and support from our
friends in Westminster.
WISH YOU
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11
Many would think
a slab of Tuborg
lager would be
one of the biggest
expenditures,
but with foreign
visitors spending
£910 at festivals
and domestic
travellers shelling
out £396 that’s
significant cash
being pumped
into parts of
the UK economy.
Marilyn Manson performing at the Download Festival, 2013. Photograph by Rune Hellestad / Corbis.
I didn’t know what to expect from the headline
figures in the Wish You Were Here report.
We know how big the live sector is in this
country. That’s something quantifiable
and measurable.
But, other areas of our industry, which
greatly interest the policy makers in
Westminster, are less well known. Music
tourism is one of them. While promoters
sweat over ticket sales, music tourists
remain a relatively untapped – and
potentially massive - market that the UK’s
music industry can and should begin to
cultivate more seriously.
Getting some numbers in place is the
starting point. It’s something we haven’t
previously attempted on such a big scale.
So when I saw £2.2 billion for total spend,
I thought ‘that’s a pretty big number.’
You need to put that figure in context.
That’s not everyone just popping on the bus
to catch a gig in their neighbourhood or
crossing town to see a concert. That’s only
the people prepared to travel at least 33
miles – and mostly a lot more - to get to see
the live music they love. That shows
commitment.
Then, I started thinking about it a bit more.
If UK tourism is worth around £115 billion
then the music industry is already providing
a sizeable chunk of that. Clearly not
everyone in Britain is going to the Isle of
Wight to build sandcastles or flying in from
Germany and France to tour stately homes.
I also wear another hat as the Chairman of
Creative and Cultural Skills. So when I saw
24,251 jobs were sustained in the UK last
year alone through music tourism then that
is excellent.
I know a lot of jobs in live music might only
be temporary or short term, but some of
them will be filled by young kids who
might be getting their first break in the
music business.
They might get a taste for the business and
approach one of our colleges to train up,
possibly with an apprenticeship or training
through the UK Music Skills Academy that
was launched earlier this year.
The other figure that stood out for me was
the £657 spent by foreign music tourists.
And overseas travellers shelled out nearly
a grand when they camped out at a
festival as part of their stay.
That’s a fair whack because you wouldn’t
expect our kind of tourist would have the
highest spend – there’s a lot of
impoverished students there, sleeping
in tents.
Many would think a slab of Tuborg lager
would be one of the biggest expenditures,
but with foreign visitors spending £910
at festivals and domestic travellers
shelling out £396 that’s significant cash
being pumped into parts of the UK
economy that are probably desperate
for a boost right now.
And make no mistake, these are
challenging times right now. When you
look at live music, you can’t ignore
the state of the economy because our
target audience is obviously impacted
by factors such as youth unemployment
and higher education fees.
It beggars belief that kids are coming out
of university now with the equivalent of
mortgages around their necks. Perhaps
those who are cool about having an
albatross over their heads will still spend
money on festivals. But, will they spend it
on more than one festival? If they go to
something at the start of the season in
May will they have enough for a ticket to
Reading or Leeds at the end?
FOREWORD
10 WISH YOU
WERE HERE
Paul Latham
Chief Operating
Officer
Live Nation
International Music
1

There are already precedents for such
specialist music tourism campaigns. Earlier
this year the Government of Ontario
launched a $45m programme, in tandem
with various tourism and marketing partners,
to boost concert attendance and visitor
spending. 4
Key strands of the strategy are to promote
Ontario’s music and position the province
“as a premier global destination for live
music and music tourism.”
Music Canada has suggested the move could
create 1300 jobs in the province and generate
a further $60m in economic activity. 5
The potential for the UK to build a similar
campaign, backed by the music industry,
Government and promoters supported by
all the marketing nous of tourism bodies,
such as VisitBritain, is enormous.
Already, the UK has an edge on many of
its international competitors. It has a long
list of music - and potential music tourism
- strengths, including some of the best and
most famous music festivals in the world.
Obviously, well branded festivals and the
larger venues hosting international stars,
are well positioned to reach out to the
overseas visitor: these live music shows
can be harnessed as a major economic
asset by developing a comprehensive
music tourism strategy.
The live music industry – from festival
operators to concert promoters and
managers - has years of experience in
marketing its gigs using a variety of social
media tools coupled with more traditional
advertising routes.
The sector also holds massive amounts of
data on fans and their live music behaviour,
which could be used as part of this music
tourism strategy.
It’s clear music can play a major role in
boosting the UK tourist industry. But, how
and by how much?
Up-to-date information and definitive data
on how successful music tourism is right
now can provide a baseline upon which
future music tourism can be measured.
Using the data from Wish You Were Here
agencies will be able to measure
the effectiveness of any music-related
tourism strategies and policies that are
put in place over the coming years and
decades to amplify music’s part in Britain’s
tourism offer.
WISH YOU
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13
The UK has an
edge on many of
its international
competitors.
It has a long list
of music - and
potential music
tourism - strengths,
including some
of the best music
festivals in
the world.
4
Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sport (2013) Ontario A Leader in Live Music: McGuinty Government Developing Live Music Strategy to
Showcase Industry Globally
5
Music Canada (2013) The Next Big Bang: A New Direction for Music in Canada
Strawberry Fields is on the tourists’ destination list of Liverpool.
Photograph by Jim Dyson.
The UK has a whole range of assets -
beautiful beaches, the Royal Family, ancient
castles, unrivalled museums and art
galleries - working in its favour. They all sell
Britain and boost the tourist industry.
That sector’s economic impact on the UK
economy is regularly researched and
documented. The visitor economy is worth
£115bn annually and employs 2.6 million
people . 1
Earlier this year the Office for National
Statistics revealed the UK tourism sector
recorded the strongest levels of spend and
visitor numbers since 2008. 2
A year after Britain hosted the London 2012
Olympic and Paralympic Games, inbound
tourism proved it is one of the UK’s key
growth markets: 15.2 million visitors flocked
to the country in the first half of 2013
(an increase of 4% on the same period the
previous year).
Tourism Minister Hugh Robertson said,
“These record figures show that our
tourism strategy is working. The tourism
sector has a big role to play in delivering
economic growth and we must keep up this
momentum and continue to promote
Britain as a great place to visit.”
What is less well know, however, is the
specific contribution music makes to the
UK’s tourism business.
There’s no doubt that the UK’s music
festivals, such as Glastonbury, and the
extensive touring programmes of
international acts, such as the Rolling
Stones and Beyonce, attract massive
overseas interest and foreign visitors to
these shores.
Cities steeped in musical tradition, such as
Liverpool, have already made huge
progress in creating a strong tourist trade
around music.
Earlier this year the city launched its Beat
In The Mersey tour to promote other bands
and music genres that have kept Liverpool
rocking over the years. 3
Other towns in Britain can replicate
Liverpool’s ambition and push their own
musical heritage.
Alongside inbound tourists, many music
lovers in the UK also travel long distances
to watch their favourite bands and artists
perform.
This is international and domestic music
tourism working. And working well. But,
exactly how much music tourism adds to
GDP, contributes to employment and can
help boost - even revive - local economies
has gone largely unexplored.
It is clear music tourism offers an opportunity
for economic growth at the local,
regional and national level.
If the music industry can demonstrate live
music encourages more people to holiday
in the UK, or travel around the UK to get to
gigs, it can calculate how much money
music tourists generate and also estimate
the potential for future spend.
This provides ammunition to gather
support from politicians representing
regions where thousands, perhaps millions
of pounds, will be spent by music fans.
New, music specific, tourist strategies
could then be unleashed in these areas.
INTRODUCTION
12 WISH YOU
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There’s no
doubt that
the UK’s music
festivals, such as
Glastonbury, and
the extensive
touring
programmes of
international
acts, such as
the Rolling Stones
and Beyonce,
attracts massive
overseas interest
and foreign
visitor to
these shores.
1
The Economic Contribution of the Visitor Economy: Deloitte and Oxford Economics, June 2010 for VisitBritain
2
Office for National Statistics (August 2013) retrieved from:
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/uk-tourism-sector-boosted-by-latest-spend-and-visitor-statistics
3
Liverpool Echo (2013) Liverpool music tour to go beyond The Beatles
http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/whats-on/music/beat-mersey-music-tour-go-4065385

HOW DO YOU GO
ABOUT PROMOTING?
We do a mixture of things. We promote
ourselves and also work a lot with the big
national promoters.
But, once a band is selling 3000 tickets in
London they will generally have a long term
relationship with one of the big promoters.
So we tend to promote the more esoteric
stuff. We work with artists for more
creative reasons rather than just a London
stop off on a UK tour.
YOU SEEM TO LIKE
DOING FESTIVALS?
Yeah, we do Short Circuit and iTunes
Festivals. Then we have the contemporary
classical Reverb and Ja Ja Ja Festival
launching this year, which we hope to make
into an annual event. It is all about Nordic
IN FOCUS:
VENUE
WISH YOU
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Roundhouse
Head Of Music
David Gaydon
Camden’s Roundhouse, home to the iTunes Festival. Photograph by Will Pearson.
food, screenings and exhibitions so it
becomes so much more than a gig.
When we do something like a weekend
or three day event, it will be the weekend
ticket – the more expensive ticket - that
always goes first. There is always an
appetite for people who want to immerse
themselves in the culture.
WHAT’S THE CAPACITY AND
CONFIGURATIONS FOR MUSIC
AND DO YOU PROGRAMME
MUSIC ALL YEAR LONG?
We’ve got a capacity of 3118. We just upped
it a bit in a new seating system
upstairs to increase our seating capacity.
So now fully seated is 1,200 and 1,800 all
seated in the round. Sometimes we
also do cabaret tables, but the standard
rock‘n’ roll set up is 2500 standing and
600 upstairs.
Britain’s ambition is to attract 40 million
visitors by 2020. Music tourism already
contributes to this, but the music industry
can play a much bigger role in helping
VisitBritain and others achieve this target.
By 2020, the country targets earnings of
£31.5bn from inbound tourism. That is an
additional spend of £8.7bn. Music tourists
already spend over £1bn and an increase in
this sector could again help achieve the
target set.
Overseas tourists are gold dust. They
comprised just 6% of the total population
of music tourists in 2012, but accounted for
20% of music tourist spending.
Support comes from across the political
spectrum for the music industry to push
strategies to help grow music tourism.
music tourism is already successful at
drawing tourists into every corner of
the UK.
An increase in music tourism has the
potential to benefit every nation and
region of the UK.
Tourism agencies and the music industry
could work more to promote and spread
the benefits of music tourism in areas
outside of London and the south east.
Music tourism can help improve Britain’s
image overseas and also help promote new
and young artists, who haven’t yet found
an audience outside of the country.
MUSIC TOURISM
IN PERSPECTIVE
14 WISH YOU
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The Lord Bishop
of Derby
Music is not
only important
but a much
underrated offer
that we make
to the rest of
the world
through tourism.
When people
come here for
music tourism
they engage
in making a
community and
in being joined
with others in a
common culture
through hearing
a common
language.
1

WISH YOU
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6
IFPI (2013) Recording Industry in Numbers: The Recorded Music Market in 2012
7
BPI 2013 BPI Yearbook
The UK music industry is an incredibly
important sector for the UK economy.
The UK is one of only three countries that
exports more music than it imports
because the global impact of music
produced in the UK or by British musicians
is massive.
The UK is the largest producer of recorded
music in Europe and the third largest in
the world. 6
Incredibly, UK artists are
responsible for around 12% of global album
sales. 7
The UK has always produced world class
musical talent in every genre from dance to
classical. Some of the biggest rock and pop
stars on the planet, including The Beatles,
The Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin
and David Bowie, have launched from
Britain’s shores and their music is available
and bought in countries from Australia to
Zimbabwe.
Fortunately, that trend for producing world
beating stars has not diminished in the last
few years with artists such as Adele,
Coldplay, Mumford & Sons, Jessie J and
Florence & The Machine all producing
global selling albums and ensuring that
no fewer than five of the top 10 selling
global albums in 2012 were by British acts.
This continual unearthing and development
of new globe straddling talent provides
Britain with a shop window and a reason
for people all around the world to be
interested in what is happening in the UK
and to become potential music tourists.
MUSIC IS
BIG BUSINESS
The UK is
one of only
three countries
that exports
more music
than it
imports.
GLOBAL TOP SELLING ALBUMS OF 2012 (SOURCE IFPI)
POSITION ARTIST TITLE TOTAL SALES (M)
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Adele
Taylor Swift
One Direction
One Direction
Lana Del Ray
Pink
Rod Stewart
Rihanna
Mumford and Sons
Maroon 5
21
Red
Up All Night
Take Me Home
Born To Die
The Truth About Love
Merry Christmas, Baby
Unapologetic
Babel
Overexposed
8.3
5.2
4.5
4.4
3.4
2.6
2.6
2.3
2.3
2.2
MUSIC TOURISM
IN PERSPECTIVE
We have invested heavily in infrastructure to
allow us to flip back between events.
Because of all the different art forms it does
make it complex flipping from a circus show
to a normal rock ’n’ roll gig to a big corporate
gig with sit down meal. Everyday brings us
different challenges, but that makes it a
good place to be and keeps us on our toes.
Certain times of the year, such as spring,
autumn and winter, are definitely better for
live music. March, April, May and the
beginning of June are normally good. But,
July, August and September are pretty
terrible because bands are generally tied
into exclusivity deals with the festivals.
Last year, we probably did around 80 shows
plus another 30 iTunes shows. This year,
including iTunes, we will have around 150
shows so we are pretty much back to back.
This year, compared to last year, we have
very few dark days.
WHAT ABOUT THE OLYMPICS
LAST YEAR?
Last year the Olympics were really hard for
us. We thought we would do a big hire
and tried to hire to one of the competing
countries as many venues did, but it all came
to nothing.
I think the whole year was affected by the
Olympics in terms of people putting things
off or artists not wanting to play so I think
we really suffered in terms of the amount of
shows we did.
WHAT ABOUT THE KINDS OF BANDS
YOU WANT FOR THE ROUNDHOUSE?
Everyone had a little bit of a dip last year so
this year there’s a lot more bands out
touring. Maybe there are less festivals so
bands are not tied into exclusivity deals.
In my remit I want to be really across every
genre and demographic so we have a very
diverse music policy. We don’t want to be
all dad rock. So much different music works
in the space so we want to create a really
diverse programme in there.
I work closely with promoters, agents,
mangers and I go after particular shows
that I want to happen whether I promote it
or it is externally promoted.
I don’t think there is any particular genre that
doesn’t work and we can have a different
crowd of people coming in every night.
I think both audiences and bands like it that
the Roundhouse has this rich rock n roll
heritage. It was this amazing eclectic venue
through the 60s and 70s, with crazy
happenings, the first Pink Floyd performance
was here. The Ramones played here.
So it has this rich cultural heritage.
But, I think the shape of the place also helps.
If you are at the back at some venues then
you are really right at the back. But, here
there is no back because it is round.
For bands looking out, the shape makes it
look intimate even with 3000 people in
there and that works for bands and
audiences alike. It creates more of a sense
of occasion just because it feels different
from the normal venue.
Because of all this The Roundhouse is often
used for a statement show. Younger bands
see it as a stepping stone and some more
established acts might prefer to do a run
of three or four shows here rather than
playing one big venue.
16 WISH YOU
WERE HERE
Lady Gaga leaves 2013
iTunes festival at Roundhouse
© KP Pictures / Splash News / Corbis
I think both
audiences and
bands like it
that the
Roundhouse
has this rich
rock n roll
heritage.
IN FOCUS:
VENUE

Britain hosts some of the world’s best known
festivals, such as Glastonbury and Isle of
Wight.
The country also attracts the cream of global
talent playing in a range of top class venues,
including the O2 and Royal Albert Hall.
Last summer’s Olympic Games also saw the
best of British music take centre stage for
the opening and closing ceremonies and
at shows in Hyde Park and across London.
The Games brought obvious and significant
gains to the capital and the nation as a
whole. There have been a catalogue of
reports that have made a study of the
Games’ economic impact and their legacy –
including their potential to increase tourism.
One of these reports suggested that last
year’s Games would generate a
massive net increase in tourist visits (10.8m
between 2005 and 2017). The additional
tourist expenditure was expected to
generate another £2bn contribution to GDP. 8
Obviously, music played a major part in the
Games. However, its contribution – and
its potential to increase tourism – has been
less well researched.
Despite overseas media showering
praise on Britain’s musical offering during
last year’s Games the international
interest in British music and its inherent
linkage with the UK as a place to visit
(for a holiday or a concert) hasn’t been
fully exploited. 9
WISH YOU
WERE HERE
19
8
Oxford Economics/Lloyds Banking Group July 2013 The Economic Impact of the London 2012 Olympic & Paralympic Games
9
Guardian (July 2012) World's media lavishes praise on Olympic opening ceremony retrieved from
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2012/jul/28/world-media-london-olympic-opening-ceremony
Arctic Monkeys performing at the 2012 Olympics opening ceremony. Photograph by Lars Baron.
MUSIC TOURISM
IN PERSPECTIVE
18 WISH YOU
WERE HERE
Photograph by Simon Winnall / ©VisitBritain.

WISH YOU
WERE HERE
21
The Olympic Stadium one of the UK’s newest music venues. Photograph by Chris Harvey.
WISH YOU
WERE HERE
20
1
TOURISM IS ALSO
BIG BUSINESS
10
John Penrose MP Minister for Tourism and Heritage, DCMS (2011) Government Tourism Policy
11
VisitBritain (2013) Delivering a Golden Legacy: A Growth Strategy for inbound tourism to Britain from 2012 to 2020
12
Government Tourism Policy March 2011
Tourism is a massively important sector of
the UK economy. It is one of the UK’s six
biggest industries and the country’s third
largest export earner. 10
The UK attracts 31 million people from
across the globe and last year these
overseas tourists spent £18.6bn in the UK. 11
Overseas and domestic tourism together
contribute £115bn to the Gross Domestic
Product and provide employment for 2.6m
people. One in 12 jobs in the UK is either
directly or indirectly supported by tourism
and 44% of the employees in the sector are
under 40.
Tourism is also a growth industry. Although
the UK’s GDP did not grow last year, the
spend by overseas tourists increased by 4%.
However, there is still enormous potential to
grow the sector, something recognised by
the 2011 Government Tourism Policy
document. This suggested the domestic
tourist sector was ripe for expansion
because Britain currently runs a large
tourism deficit.
The UK attracts
31 million people
from across
the globe
and last year
theses overseas
tourists spent
£18.6 billion.
Only 21% of Britons holiday at home,
compared to nearly 30% in the rest of
Europe. 12
This is where music tourism - travelling
to concerts and festivals across Britain -
offers significant scope to help boost
domestic tourism and, consequently,
economic growth
The growth potential of both domestic and
overseas tourism has not been missed by
politicians, eager to lift Britain’s economy.
In July 2012 Prime Minister David Cameron
said there was no reason to stop “pushing
the message that Britain is a GREAT place
to visit, a great place to come and do
business.”
In April 2013 Culture Secretary Maria Miller
echoed this view. She said that in the 21st
century travel was something within the
reach of more people. “This change offers
Britain an incredible opportunity to grow
our tourist industry, helping to create more
jobs and bring in further investment and
growth.”
MUSIC TOURISM
IN PERSPECTIVE

WISH YOU
WERE HERE
23
Music is one of the seven pillars of VisitBritain’s multimillion pound GREAT Britain image building campaign
MUSIC TOURISM
IN PERSPECTIVE
There are a lot of reasons why tourists visit
the UK.
Some come to see the changing of the
guard. Many Americans like playing our
golf courses. Spanish surfers head off for
Cornwall’s beaches, Shakespeare lovers
head for Stratford upon Avon and Berlin
hipsters head out east to Hoxton.
But, there’s another reason why all these
people flock to the UK. They come for the
music.
Britain is the music capital of Europe. The
Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin,
David Bowie, Elton John, Rod Stewart, The
Sex Pistols, The Clash, Elvis Costello, New
Order, Coldplay, Adele, Mumford & Sons,
Florence + The Machine, One Direction –
they all made it big here before the world got
to hear about them.
Spanish, German or Australian fans can see
a gig any night of the week featuring an
artist from the UK. But, there is something
special about coming to the home of British
music to see and hear British bands play live
– or even where they sleep and buy their
clothes.
A recent survey by the UK’s national tourism
agency found the country’s musical success
on the domestic and global stage was one of
the reasons for attracting at least some of
the 31 million tourists who travelled to the
UK last year. 13
VisitBritain found that 44% of incoming
tourists to the UK believe music was one
of Britain’s key cultural activities.
Many tourists from countries, including
Argentina, Mexico and Brazil, rated a
musical experience highly. The Foresight
Report found that 11% of all respondents
would like to go on a Beatles Tour and some
8% were keen on a trip to Glastonbury:
South Africans were the most likely (13%)
to travel to Somerset to experience the
festival.
Music is now one of seven pillars of
VisitBritain’s multimillion pound GREAT
Britain image building campaign launched
in 2011 and given an addtional £12m of
funding over the 2013-14 financial year.
This ambitious marketing campaign,
featuring slogans such as Culture is GREAT
and Music is GREAT, was delivered as
a direct response to Penrose’s 2011
Government Tourism Policy. In addition to
this major advertising campaign, the
policy document also highlighted two other
objectives:
–– to increase the number of UK residents
holidaying in the UK
–– to break into the world’s top five visitor
economies
A crowd shot at the Reading Festival
features in the Music is GREAT campaign
and helps remind potential hoilday makers
that Britain produces some of the best
musicians and music on the planet.
MUSIC+TOURIST
= MUSIC TOURISM
22 WISH YOU
WERE HERE
VisitBritain
found that 44%
of incoming
tourists to the
UK believed
music was one
of Britain’s
key cultural
activities.
13
VisitBritain (2012) Foresight: The Importance of music to inbound tourism
MUSIC TOURISM
IN PERSPECTIVE

Tourism also makes a positive contribution
to many local and regional economies. It
traditionally employs a higher percentage of
young people, who are more likely to be
interested in music.
Thus, music and tourism are excellent bed
fellows. Separately, they are strong,
established businesses. But, together they
can become powerful drivers for growth,
employment and enrich the cultural
offering of a region.
Any music festival or the region it is based
in can brand itself and then market that
brand – and all the musical delights that
make up the offering - overseas or
domestically.
Teamed with promotional support from a
local council, Government and tourist
agencies the brand recognition could
increase exponentially and the cultural,
musical and economic gains can be added
up annually.
The success of Austin in the US is a case in
point. By branding itself the live music
capital of the world – when actually the live
music scenes are much bigger and broader
in cities such as Los Angeles and London –
and marketing its annual SXSW music
festival has helped the Texan capital rake
in around $1.6bn in annual revenues from
visitors. Music tourism has been estimated
to account for around 50% of that. 17
Similarly, New Orleans has branded itself
the home of jazz and Nashville is the
capital of country.
Birmingham has already considered a
proposal to establish a Music Birmingham
office to help push the city’s musical
heritage.
A ‘Destination Birmingham: A Music City’
report published by Birmingham City
Council in February 2012 suggested the
city had not exploited its music history to
attract more tourists. The report stated:
‘we believe Birmingham could and should
do more to celebrate its diverse musical
heritage.’
The benefits, it suggested, would ‘provide a
focal point for visitors and celebrations
and improve external perceptions of
Birmingham.’
Some ideas mooted included establishing
a music ambassador, a plaque scheme
to celebrate musical achievement, a
permanent hard rock exhibition and a music
digital archive.
In 2010 the Association of Independent
Festivals borrowed the twinning of towns
concept to launch a cultural exchange
programme that helped raise the profile of
indie festivals in the UK around Europe. 18
At the time AIF co-founder Rob Challice said
he hoped the twinning initiative would lead
to many creative partnerships.
Participating festivals have built local
awareness of their twins through cross
press and marketing promotions and talent
discussions have helped to co-ordinate
bookings of international artists and
further reinforce the fundamental values
that unite the festivals.
25WISH YOU
WERE HERE
17
Music Canada (2013) The Next Big Bang: A New Direction for Music in Canada
18
Association of Independent Festivals Twin Festivals: A Cultural Exchange retrieved from http://www.aiforg.com/news.php?news_search=twinning
Austin branding
itself the live
music capital of
the world – when
actually the live
music scenes are
much bigger and
broader in cities
such as Los Angeles
and London – and
marketing its annual
SXSW music festival
has helped the
Texan capital rake
in around $1.6bn.
Photograph by Adrees Latif.
MUSIC TOURISM
IN PERSPECTIVE
Government recognises this and has clearly
signposted that tourism is a cornerstone of
its policy to grow the UK economy.
In August 2010 Prime Minister David
Cameron set out his ambition for tourism;
in a speech at the Serpentine Gallery in
London, Cameron said he wanted more
visitors from overseas and – also,
importantly - to encourage more Britons to
holiday at home. 14
Cameron wanted tourism to focus on
national parks, seaside towns, castles, coun-
try houses, museums, galleries, and -
importantly - festivals and viewed tourism as
a key factor in rebalancing the economy with
both public and private sectors playing
a part.
VisitBritain now suggests that with the right
backing the UK could attract 40m overseas
visitors a year by 2020, earning a massive
£31.5bn. 15
The UK is at the centre of the global live
music industry. But, its role in generating -
and potential to increase - tourism has not
been adequately explored.
Music does clearly have a big part to play in
the tourism story.
As a recent report about the music
industry in Scotland suggested, “Music is
a significant aspect of the cultural value
that Scotland uses to drive tourism,
both explicitly and implicitly.” 16
Successful music tourism is often the
product of a complex, interlocking
infrastructure where a region’s musical
assets, including festivals and concert
venues, are the building blocks.
A vibrant music scene, such as that found
in Manchester in the eighties around the
Madchester movement, will have a major
impact on a city or region’s bottom line;
creative workers and businesses will be
attracted to an area with a thriving
commercial music economy.
Major televised music events such as
Glastonbury Festival and The Last Night of
the Proms also help shine a light on the UK
and can ramp up the travel plans of people
watching in Berlin or Paris.
WISH YOU
WERE HERE
24
A vibrant music
scene, such
as that found in
Manchester in
the eighties
around the
Madchester
movement,
will have a
major impact
on a city or
region’s
bottom line.
14
D. Cameron speech retrieved from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-10950167.
15
VisitBritain (2013) Delivering a Golden Legacy: A Growth Strategy for inbound tourism to Britain from 2012 to 2020.
16
Behr A and Brennan M (2013) Scotland on Tour: Strategies for promoting the music industry within and outwith Scotland.
OVERSEAS VISITORS SPEND £18.6 BILLION IN THIS COUNTRY
UK TOURISM’S ECONOMIC CONTRIBUTION
£115 BILLION ANNUALLY TO GDP
PROVIDES 2.6 MILLION JOBS
44% OF PEOPLE EMPLOYED IN TOURISM ARE UNDER 30 YEARS
Source VisitBritain
MUSIC TOURISM
IN PERSPECTIVE

WHAT DO YOU DO?
Festicket aims to make booking music
festival trips easy and very cost effective by
creating packages that include tickets to the
festival, accommodation in the local area,
transfers for those coming from further
afield and transport between the hotel and
festival.
So far, we have worked with over 80 festivals
worldwide, with around a dozen of those
festivals located in the UK, including Bestival,
Camp Bestival, Leeds, Latitude and Eastern
Electrics.
Many of those festivals we continue to work
with, and are also on our way to building
relationships with many more new and
exciting events.
Festicket works very closely with festivals,
creating packages with festival-goers very
much in mind and tailored to their specific
needs.
We offer a wide range of packages for each
festival, providing for those who want to
camp up to five-star luxury, as well as for
those who just want to find cost-effective
local hotels and apartments. Our packages
are very often available to purchase directly
from the festival website through our white-
label platform, so essentially the organisers
are providing their clientele with an
alternative and hassle-free range of ticket
and travel options.
We also provide a level of customer support
that you wouldn’t get through the bulk of
other routes to purchase festival tickets.
WHAT KIND OF THINGS
DO PEOPLE GO FOR?
We try and offer the full spectrum, so
everything from camping and glamping to
apartments and five star luxury hotels.
If you want to camp but don’t want to or
its not practical to go out and get a tent
and equipment, we will get it for you.
We curate packages that are built around
the needs of a festival goer, which means
that we don’t just pick the closest hotel to a
festival or the cheapest, we’ll pick the hotel
that is right for the festival audience.
Some of our packages also include
transfers and shuttles from the airport to
the festival site or their accommodation,
and there have also been packages where
we can organise shuttles to take them and
pick them from the festival. We’ve also done
ferry packages for the Isle of Wight.
ARE YOU GETTING A LOT
OF PEOPLE FROM ABROAD?
We have a lot of reach in Europe and
people in Europe are used to travelling all
over the continent to go to festivals. We are
also quite lucky to have so many concerts
and festivals here in the UK.
Different UK festivals face various
challenges and vary in appeal. We found
that at Latitude everyone who booked with
us was from the UK, But interestingly for
Leeds around 40% were from outside of
this country.
Continued overleaf...
IN FOCUS:
TICKETS
27WISH YOU
WERE HERE
1
Festicket’s
Head of
Marketing
Barri Coen
Twins have also been sharing not only
artists and expertise but also audiences,
as competition winners have been given
the chance to experience the twin festival
in action.
There have been a number of studies to
investigate how music and tourism fit
together and what its economic impact is.
However, these have largely focused on
individual festivals, such as Glastonbury 19
and Reading, or a particular region. 20
There has also been quite a bit of work
investigating how many people visit
Liverpool every year to visit the birthplace
of The Beatles and how much they spend
at the city’s Matthew Street Music Festival. 21
UK Music also contributed to the level of
understanding with its Destination: Music
report in 2011. 22
This was a very useful marker for Wish You
Were Here and subsequent work in the
area. Now there have been calls from
the highest political levels to uncover
comprehensive and up-to-date data on the
value of live music and tourism.
WISH YOU
WERE HERE
26
19
Baker Associates/Mendip District Council (2007) Economic Impact of Glastonbury Festivals 20
Baker Associates/University of Reading (2010)
Economic Impact Assessment for the 2009 Reading Festival 21
itsliverpool.com We Can Work It Out retrieved from http://www.itsliverpool.com/
passions/we-cant-buy-their-love-but-can-we-put-a-price-on-the-beatles/ 23
UK Music/School of Tourism Bournemouth University (2011)
Destination: Music The Contribution of music festivals and major concerts to tourism in the UK
Chvrches performing at SXSW 2013 in Austin Texas. Photograph by Tony Nelson.
MUSIC TOURISM
IN PERSPECTIVE

The BPI, a trade body that represents the UK
recorded music sector, held an event in June
2013 where the Prime Minister David
Cameron made the point that the UK music
industry was an “international success
story”. He also said the Government should
back it partly because of the “massive and
growing music tourism, people coming to
Britain to listen to great acts.” 24
The political interest in music tourism
has increased since. Jim Cunningham MP
tabled a two part question in the House of
Commons on June 28 2013.
Cunningham asked the Culture Secretary
Maria Miller to estimate the financial effects
of the Glastonbury Festival on the local and
national economy. 25
The Labour MP for Coventry South also
asked Miller to “make an assessment of the
benefits to the economy of the music
festival industry.”
Creative Industries Minister Ed Vaizey
replied for Miller. Vaizey said that the
creative industries and tourism are among
the sectors with the greatest potential to
drive economic growth.
Vaizey said, “The Glastonbury music festival
is a great example of the strength and
diversity of the UK's live music industry.
While we produce economic estimates on
the value of the creative industries to the UK
economy, including the music industry, we
do not do so for specific music festivals.”
Vaizey’s answer indicated there was - and
still is - a significant gap in Government
statistics covering tourism and music’s
role within it: Wish You Were Here and
subsequent research from UK Music and
the music industry will help enrich the
statistics and understanding.
On July 11, 2013 Lord Storey tabled a debate
in the House of Lords asking the Government
about its plans to support and promote the
impact of music upon tourism. 26
The Lib Dem peer was joined in the
90-minute debate by nine other peers,
among them Conservative peer Lord Black,
Labour’s Baroness Liddell and the
Government spokesperson on culture in the
House of Lords Baroness Northover.
The cross party group of influential peers
called on Government to develop a new
strategy to support music-based tourism
and help grow the UK economy.
Lord Storey said music festivals have been
attracting unprecedented numbers of
overseas visitors and have been pouring
money into local economies. He argued
that the world’s “evident love” of the UK’s
musical heritage should now be harnessed
and used to support music tourism.
He told the House: “I have seen first-hand
the positive impact music can make on local
tourist economies. But, we must also
consider the impact music can have on the
country as a whole. Great Britain simply
has too much potential for musical tourism
for the Government to stand idly by.
I strongly urge the Government to consider
how best to implement a well defined music
strategy.”
Storey suggested that to attract more
overseas music tourists, Government
should emphasise and engage with existing
tourist bodies and authorities across Britain
and help them market themselves as music
tourist destinations.
MUSIC TOURISM:
THE POLITICAL CASE
29WISH YOU
WERE HERE
24
Paul Williams, Music Week (2013) We Have To Back The Music Industry
25
Music: Festivals and Special Occasions House of Commons (2013)
retrieved from http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201314/cmhansrd/cm130704/text/130704w0003.htm
26
Tourism: Music, Question for short debate (2013) House of Lords. Lord Storey to ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have
to support and promote the impact of music upon tourism.
Creative
Industries,
Minister
Ed Vaizey
The creative
industries
and tourism are
among the
sectors with
the greatest
potential to drive
economic growth.
The Glastonbury
music festival
is a great
example of the
strength and
diversity of
the UK's live
music industry.
MUSIC TOURISM
IN PERSPECTIVE
We had three from Australia, probably
because Leeds has a higher international
profile and also an international airport, and
we have also been having conversations with
customers in Japan.
WHO DO YOU AIM FESTICKET AT?
We are aiming at music fans and alternative
holiday fans. The beauty of festivals is we
don’t have to look at it in the same way as a
package tour holiday.
It is not someone’s big holiday for the year;
people might go to more than one festival so
it is slightly more of an impulse purchase.
The typical conversion path in the tourist
industry is something like 28 days from
researching a holiday to booking it. We see
that usually 80-90% of our purchases
happen on the same day someone has been
on our website.
ARE YOU IN FAVOUR OF
A MUSIC TOURISM STRATEGY?
Going to gigs in Paris does seem to be fairly
normal and transport links are very good. I
don’t know how much that happens in
reverse, but we could be doing better to
market our gigs there.
When it comes to festivals obviously
everyone in the world has heard of
Glastonbury, but have all the rest of
the festivals done enough to promote
themselves overseas?
If people come to a festival in this country
then they are likely to stay for at least a few
days spending more time in London or
Britain.
It is about getting small and medium sized
festivals to present themselves because
some of them like Secret Garden Party
you just don’t get anything like that
anywhere else in the world. There is a big
opening for the way festivals present
themselves and market themselves abroad.
WISH YOU
WERE HERE
28
If people come
to a festival
in this country
then they are
likely to stay
for a few days.
There is a
big opening
for the way
festivals
present
themselves
and market
themselves
abroad.
MIA at Bestival 2013. Festickets works with Bestival and Camp Bestival. Photograph by Caitlin Mogridge.

Storey’s stance was supported by Baroness
Liddell of Coatdyke, who is also a
non-executive director of the national
tourism agency VisitBritain. The Labour
peer said music festivals and events were
thriving and helping to attract domestic and
overseas visitors, but that more could
be done to support them.
“We are not doing as well as we could
for music tourism. We need to have
more resource behind promoting our
music tourism…We have the talent, the
determination and the worldwide focus.
Let us make this a key pillar of our tourism
strategy into the future.”
Lord Clement-Jones, the Lib Dem peer
whose private members bill led to the
removal of much red tape around gigs in
small venues and pubs with last year’s
Live Music Act, also called for a “properly
joined-up strategy” for music tourism.
Lord Clement-Jones suggested that
information from Wish You Were Here
could prompt Government and relevant
departments (he cited DCMS, BIS, DCLG,
Defra, the Home Office and Treasury) to
co-operate with the music and tourist
and hospitality industries and agencies
including VisitBritain, VisitEngland, UKTI,
the British Council, the Arts Council
to identify the “real levers and barriers”
to growing music tourism.
Baroness Northover, the Government’s
culture spokesperson, accepted the debate
was right to emphasise the importance of
music and tourism and praised UK Music’s
contribution to its understanding.
Further, the shadow minister for culture Dan
Jarvis used a platform at the Musicians
Union conference in Manchester in July
2013 to stress how music tourism can be a
“huge economic force”. 27
The Barnsley MP told the conference that
the music industry is constantly adapting to
find new, innovative ways to grow and that
music tourism is a key part of that.
Jarvis said: “Music tourism is a fairly
recent phenomenon in the UK, but it is now
an integral part of our national economy
and local economies around the country.”
He referred to Glastonbury, T in the Park,
Bestival and the BBC Proms as the kinds
of events that have helped attract tourists
and bring in millions of pounds to the
economy and create thousands of jobs.
WISH YOU
WERE HERE
31
‘We are not doing
as well as we could
for music tourism.
We need to have
more resource
behind promoting
our music tourism…’
Baroness Liddell
of Coatdyke
27
Dan Jarvis MP speech at the MU Conference July 24 2013, retrieved at
http://www.danjarvismp.co.uk/news/speeches-articles/speech-to-the-musicians-union-manchester).
House of Lords debated
music tourism in the summer.
Photograph by Tim Graham.
MUSIC TOURISM
IN PERSPECTIVE
30 WISH YOU
WERE HERE
Photograph by Alen Popov.

YOU’RE GOING TO BE HELPING
OUT WITH AUDIO AT THE OLYMPIC
PARK THIS YEAR, HOW WILL
THAT BE?
Well last year there was so much going on I
rarely left the bunker. We started off last
summer with the Diamond Jubilee, we did
Buckingham Palace, The Mall, St James Park
and Hyde Park.
So, yeah I’m excited about the Olympic site.
It is a very different lay out to what we did in
Hyde Park over the years – and there aren’t
the neighbour issues. So we are looking
forward to being able to put the gas pedal
down a bit.
HOW DO YOU SET UP FOR A SHOW?
Everything is bespoke, every event we do,
every tour we do, it’s all different. That’s
what makes live so exciting. Even on a tour
where you are going to different venues
around the planet each venue can have its
own issues and you have to plan for them
accordingly.
There might be acoustic issues, there might
be access issues, there could even be
political issues depending on which country
you are in.
We prepare a dossier on each venue listing
all the local issues. But bearing all of that in
mind you can still go somewhere with Cliff
Richard and you might be in a different
situation than if you are with Kasabian
because what they and their audience
expect can be very different.
WHAT’S BEEN HAPPENING
WITH SOUND OVER THE LAST
DECADE OR SO?
In the last 15 years the line array
configuration of speakers has taken over.
The quality of the sound is becoming more
and more refined. There haven’t been any
quantum leaps in audio in terms of speaker
technology, but they have been refining
the line array.
Digital consoles, which have been around
for a while now, have made mixing easier
because they are more compact and much
more powerful. They also take up less real
estate, which is very important especially in
theatres where six seats each night are very
expensive.
As you can imagine though, it is very
capital intensive because we replace
everything between five and ten years and
that can be very expensive when you think
the cost of a stadium system now is getting
on for around £2m.
ARE ARTISTS
INTERESTED IN SOUND?
Some are, some aren’t. Peter Gabriel is very
interested and David Gilmour has got the
most incredible pair of ears. Robert Smith
is also very into the audio side.
But, audio is such a subjective medium. It’s
a given at a concert. It’s like your toilet, you
use it all the time, you don’t think about it
until something goes wrong , then you’ll do
anything to put it right.
Continued overleaf...
IN FOCUS:
LIVE SOUND
WISH YOU
WERE HERE
33
1
Britannia Row
Productions
Managing Director
Bryan Grant
Jarvis added his local Live in Barnsley indoor
music festival had managed to attract
around 3000 music fans. “It was a great
boost to our music economy, with local
bands performing and Barnsley’s business
engaging with and supporting the event.
“At a local level, music is just as vital to our
communities – not just from a financial
perspective.”
The interest from Cameron, Cunningham,
Jarvis and others has demonstrated
an unprecedented interest in music tourism.
Never before has a sitting PM praised music
tourism’s contribution to the economy; nor
has the subject been debated in such detail
in Parliament.
Music tourism is a hot issue at the highest
political levels. It is something Government
had praised and shown a willingness to back
and Wish You Were Here will, hopefully,
provide them with a starting point.
An all encompassing music tourism
strategy would need support from the
Government with measures to ensure the
night time economy in Britain thrives.
Nothing turns off an overseas visitor more –
especially one from late night cities such
as Barcelona and Berlin - than a pub or
music venue shutting down at midnight.
Public transport also needs to be part of the
strategy. The last bus leaving before the
gig ends is no good to anyone. The police
need to be involved to keep a lid on
anti-social hotspots so that tourists moving
around the country feel safe and come back
for more.
The issue of secondary ticketing could also
impact the tourism industry. If tourists
believe they are being ripped off or
scammed online by companies selling
over-priced tickets to concerts and
festivals, they might think twice about
revisiting.
The live music and tourism sectors also rely
heavily on skilled people. To ensure that
music tourists continue to enjoy brilliant
and professionally managed concerts, the
music industry needs to ensure its future
workforce is highly trained.
UK Music has contributed to this with the
launch of its Skills Academy earlier this year.
This provides a specialist apprenticeship
scheme and also myriad access routes –
including via its network of rehearsal rooms
- into the music industry for youngsters
from a range of backgrounds.
The Government should examine the UK
visa regime and how it impacts visiting
musicians to this country. Encouraging
more overseas artists and bands could
inspire more of their fans to travel to
the UK.
VAT in relation to how it is applied to music
tourism could also be reviewed. The UK
currently applies the full rate of VAT on
admissions to cultural attractions, including
music events, which puts it at a major
disadvantage to competitor countries in
Europe such as France and Germany.
32 WISH YOU
WERE HERE
Shadow Minister
for Culture,
Dan Jarvis
Music tourism
is a fairly recent
phenomenon in
the UK, but it
is now an
integral part
of our national
economy and
local economies
around the
country.
MUSIC TOURISM
IN PERSPECTIVE

DEFINING A MUSIC TOURIST
This study set out to establish what
proportion of audiences at concerts, gigs
and festivals is comprised of music tourists,
as distinct from the local population.
There is no hard and fast definition of what
makes a person a tourist.
We classified music tourists into two
groups: domestic tourists, who are
resident in the UK; and overseas tourists.
To qualify as a domestic music tourist, we
felt that the person should have to travel
beyond their normal stomping ground.
Many people regularly travel a good
distance for work, to go shopping, or for
entertainment. To be a music tourist, we
felt they need to travel further than
they would for these routine activities.
MUSIC TOURISM
IN THE UK
WISH YOU
WERE HERE
35
1
GOVERNMENT
OFFICE REGION
AVERAGE COMMUTING
DISTANCE (MILES)
DOMESTIC MUSIC TOURISM
THRESHOLD (MILES)
EAST MIDLANDS
EAST OF ENGLAND
LONDON
NORTH EAST
NORTH WEST
SCOTLAND
SOUTH EAST
SOUTH WEST
WALES
WEST MIDLANDS
YORKS & THE HUMBER
UK
12.4
13.8
11.5
13.9
11.1
15.7
12.9
13.3
12.2
12.7
13.6
11.8
37.2
41.5
34.5
41.6
33.4
47.2
38.8
39.9
36.6
38.1
40.9
35.5
Estimated average commuting distance and associated distance threshold
for categorisation of domestic music tourism.
So we looked at the average commuting
distance for each region.
We decided that to qualify as a domestic
tourist, the person had to travel at least 3
times the average commuting distance in
order to attend the gig or festival.
In order to qualify as an overseas music
tourist, the person must normally reside in
a country outside the UK and had to book
their ticket in advance, from their home
address in a country outside the UK.
This suggests that the person was
determined to get to that gig.
These definitions of a domestic and
overseas music tourist run the risk of
under-estimating the contribution that
live music makes to tourism.
Also, it has been said that people listen with
their eyes at concerts. I’m not sure that is
strictly true, but there is a lot of visual stuff
that goes on at a concert so it is a very
holistic experience.
I think if the sound isn’t right a lot of people
might say the band wasn’t very good or
maybe the concert wasn’t very good.
Sometimes they are not quite sure why they
didn’t like it. Maybe it was too loud or maybe
not loud enough. You can sometimes get two
people sitting next to each other, one thinks
the concert was the most blissful experience
of their life and the other thinks it is total
crap. It’s a very subjective medium.
WHAT SORTS OF SKILLS DO PEOPLE
NEED TO WORK IN AUDIO?
When I started you had to have a clean
driving licence, be able to lift heavy things
and be able to plug stuff in.
But, nowadays the technology is such that
crew and technicians going out with sound
systems have to have a pretty high level of
knowledge; basically they have to be
computer literate.
They have to have a knowledge of mains,
they have to have a knowledge of physics
and they have to have a knowledge of
weight because they might be hanging
several tonnes of stuff in the air. You have
to know you are doing the right thing and
the weight loading in the roof of the building
is sufficient. And you have to have people
skills because you have to work in a team.
I’d liken it to being in a submarine; you have
to have people cooped up on a tour bus for
several months without them wanting to
stab someone.
34 WISH YOU
WERE HERE
IN FOCUS:
LIVE SOUND
Symphony Hall Birmingham. Photograph by THSH / Adrian Burrows. Symphony Hall Birmingham is a blue print both architecturally and
accoustically for concert halls around the world. It is currently ranked no. 1 of a 189 attractions in Birmingham on the travel website TripAdvisor.

WISH YOU
WERE HERE
37
41% of the
audiences at
all live music
events in 2012
were either
domestic or
foreign music
tourists.
Last year - an Olympic year, when the eyes
of the world were focused on athletes
competing in East London - the music
industry’s rich and varied programme of
concerts and festivals drew nearly 6.5
million domestic and overseas music
tourists.
Despite the absence of the Glastonbury
ATTENDANCE
Festival, which pulls in over 170,000
visitors (most of whom have travelled well
outside their average commuting disances)
and the continuing economic slump, live
music continued to be a major draw for
music tourists.
41% of the audiences at all live music
events in 2012 were either domestic or
foeign music tourists.
MUSIC TOURISM
IN THE UK
ATTENDANCE AT LIVE MUSIC EVENTS
6,495/41% 9,479/59%
MUSIC TOURISTS
LOCALS
ATTENDANCE
000S
16,000
15,000
14,000
13,000
12,000
11,000
10,000
9,000
8,000
7,000
6,000
5,000
4,000
3,000
2,000
1,000
0
MUSIC TOURISTS LOCALS
However, by erring on the side of caution,
we can be rock solid in our confidence that
the figures in this report represent the
minimum contribution that live music makes
to tourism.
DEFINING A LIVE MUSIC EVENT
Our focus was squarely on live music
events, where music was the main
attraction. We included all genres of music.
We excluded events where live music was
just one of several forms of entertainment,
and not the primary draw.
.
We did not include opera, ballet, or music
theatre.
We only counted ticketed events. And
we only counted live music events held at
venues with a capacity of at least 1500.
This definition of a live music event may
result in an under-estimate of the true
numbers of music tourists.
Again erring on the side of caution,
we can be confident that the figures in this
report represent the minimum contribution
that live music makes to tourism.
COUNTING THE NUMBER OF
MUSIC TOURISTS
Having defined who qualifies as a music
tourist, and what event qualifies as a live
music event, the report set out to
determine what proportion of a typical live
music audience is made up of music
tourists, as opposed to the more local
population.
To do this, we examined ticket transactions
held by ticket agents and box offices.
We looked at the first part of the postcode
of the ticket purchaser, and measured the
distance from the purchaser’s postcode to
the venue’s postcode.
Our sample size was huge, representing
more than 25% of the total in-scope live
music attendance population.
This gave us the most detailed and
comprehensive picture ever of the live
music-going population.
ASSESSING THE ECONOMIC
CONTRIBUTION OF MUSIC TOURISM
Once we counted the number of music
tourists, we wanted to ascertain how much
they spent during the course of their visit,
so we could calculate how that spending
benefitted the regional and national
economy.
We first looked at how much each person
spent on the tickets themselves. We then
looked at the retail sales receipts collected
by live music venues for spending on food
and drink and ancillary items like parking.
For spending at festivals and for off-site
spending on accommodation and transport,
we drew from 7,840 survey responses
completed by music fans after they
attended live music events.
This rich mix of data inputs provided the
solid basis upon which to report on the
fantastic contribution that live music
makes to tourism in the UK.
36 WISH YOU
WERE HERE
By erring on
the side of
caution, we can
be rock solid in
our confidence
that the figures
in this report
represent
the minimum
contribution
that live
music makes
to tourism.
1
MUSIC TOURISM
IN THE UK

WISH YOU
WERE HERE
39
1
Music tourists
comprised 37%
of the concert
population and
59% of the crowd
at festivals.
Concerts take place
on most evenings
of the week and
therefore present
more of a challenge
to music tourists -
who have to travel
at least three
times the average
commuting distance -
to get there.
PROPORTION OF MUSIC TOURISTS AT CONCERTS
37% 63%
MUSIC TOURISTS
LOCALS
Music festivals
generally take
place at the
end of the
week and over
the weekend,
and often
include onsite
accommodation.
ATTENDANCE
OOOs
14,000
12,000
10,000
8,000
6,000
4,000
2,000
0
MUSIC TOURISM
IN THE UK
PROPORTION OF MUSIC TOURISTS AT FESTIVALS
59% 41%
MUSIC TOURISTS
LOCALS
ATTENDANCE
OOOs
3,000
2,000
1,000
0
38 WISH YOU
WERE HERE
1
Some 83%
of all live
music fans
bought
tickets for
concerts;
17% of ticket
purchases
were for
festivals.
ATTENDANCE AT
CONCERTS VERSUS FESTIVALS
There were far more concerts and gigs held
throughout the year than music festivals.
Concerts and gigs accounted for 83% of
MUSIC TOURISM
IN THE UK
all live music attendances - locals and music
tourists combined - while festivals accounted
for 17% of all live music attendances.
Leaving aside locals, and looking just at the
music tourist population, three-quarters
attended concerts while the other quarter
attended festivals.
TOTAL ATTENDANCE AT LIVE MUSIC EVENTS
17% 83%
FESTIVALS
ATTENDANCE
000s
CONCERTS
16,000
14,000
12,000
10,000
8,000
6,000
4,000
2,000
0
FESTIVALS CONCERTS
MUSIC TOURIST ATTENDANCE AT FESTIVALS AND CONCERTS
25% 75%
FESTIVALS
ATTENDANCE
000s
CONCERTS
7,000
6,000
5,000
4,000
3,000
2,000
1,000
0
FESTIVALS CONCERTS

WISH YOU
WERE HERE
41
1
Domestic tourists
accounted for
94% of the
music tourist
population; the
remaining 6%
were overseas
tourists.
Overseas tourists
were represented
evenly (2.4%)
at festivals
and concerts. 6% 94%
OVERSEAS
DOMESTIC
7,000
6,000
5,000
4,000
3,000
2,000
1,000
0
ATTENDANCE
000s
Having established that music tourists
made up 41% of all live music audiences
last year, further analysis determined the
proportion split between domestic (UK
resident) tourists and overseas tourists.
Not surprisingly, domestic tourists
accounted for 94% of the music tourist
population. The remaining 6% were
overseas tourists.
Focusing soley on overseas tourists, it was
possible to calculate if they were more
likely to attend festivals or concerts.
The result was that they were represented
evenly at both - 2.4% of the proportion of
attendees at festivals and concerts.
MUSIC TOURISM
IN THE UK
DOMESTIC VERSUS
OVERSEAS MUSIC TOURISTS
OVERSEAS TOURISTS DOMESTIC TOURISTS
40 WISH YOU
WERE HERE
Photograph by Paul Bradbury.

43WISH YOU
WERE HERE
The overseas
music festival
visitor spent,
on average,
£910 during
their UK stay.
Total spend
by overseas
music tourists
in 2012 was
£248m.
Domestic music
tourists spent
£396 per head at
the music festivals
they attended.
Total spend by
domestic music
tourists in 2012
was £1.02bn.
1
SPEND
PER CAPITA SPEND BY MUSIC TOURISTS DOMESTIC & OVERSEAS
396 910 87 602
FESTIVALS CONCERTS
DOMESTIC
OVERSEAS
1,000
750
500
250
0
£
On average domestic music tourists spent
£396 per head when attending music
festivals – more than four times the £87
they spent on average when attending
concerts.
Total spend by domestic music tourists in
2012 was £1.02bn.
Total spend by overseas music tourists in
2012was £248m.
Overseas music tourists need to spend a
lot more than domestic tourists because of
the travel involved.
They may also use the opportunity of
visiting a festival to have a vacation. This
means they are more likely to spread their
wealth over a wider geographical area.
Overseas music tourists spent an average
of £910 during the course of their stay in
the UK when attending a music festival,
and £602 during the course of their stay in
the UK when attending a gig.
MUSIC TOURISM
IN THE UK
PER CAPITA SPENDING
BY DOMESTIC & OVERSEAS
MUSIC TOURISTS
SPENDING
42 WISH YOU
WERE HERE
In 2012
music tourism
generated
£1.27bn
in direct
spending.
1
TOURISM SPENDING
914 1,266
INDIRECT
DIRECT
1,500
1,000
500
0
£ m
Live music is a stimulus for a huge number
of people to travel significant distances and
they generate huge spending.
This spending happens at the festival or
concert and on the way there and back,
which includes the purchase of tickets,
transport, food and drink, and in some
cases, accommodation.
In 2012, music tourism generated £1.27
billion in direct spending.
Music tourism also stimulated additional
spending throughout the supply chain. For
example, to accommodate the increased
demand for food and drink created by
music tourists, caterers will buy in more
supplies from their wholesalers, who in
turn will buy in more from their suppliers.
This is additional or indirect spending.
Music tourism generated a further £914
million in indirect spending, making £2.18
bn in total.
MUSIC TOURISM
IN THE UK
INDIRECT DIRECT

SPENDING AT
CONCERTS AND FESTIVALS
45WISH YOU
WERE HERE
There were far more concerts held during
the year than festivals. However music
tourists spent far more at festivals
than concerts, boosting the significance of
festivals to the economy.
Festival tourists spent £685, which
accounted for 54% of all music tourism
spending over the course of the year.
Concert tourists spent £581m, which
spending in 2012.
1
TOURISM SPENDING AT CONCERTS AND FESTIVALS
581 685
FESTIVALS
CONCERTS
800
600
400
200
0
FESTIVALSCONCERTS
MUSIC TOURISM
IN THE UK
TOURISTS
SPENDING
£ MILLIONS
WISH YOU
WERE HERE
44
1
Despite overseas
music tourists
comprising just
6% of the total
population of
music tourists
they were gold
dust to the
economy
because they
accounted
for 20% of all
music tourist
spend.6% 20% 80%94%
MUSIC TOURIST POPULATION CONTRIBUTION TO MUSIC
TOURISM SPEND
DOMESTIC
OVERSEAS
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
SHARE
CONTRIBUTION T0 MUSIC TOURISM SPEND
DOMESTIC
OVERSEAS
1,400
1,200
1,000
800
600
400
200
0
SHARE
MUSIC TOURIST POPULATION
7,000
6,000
5,000
4,000
3,000
2,000
1,000
0
ATTENDANCE
OOOs
SPENDING
£ MILLIONS
SPENDING BY OVERSEAS
MUSIC TOURISTS
MUSIC TOURISM
IN THE UK
%
378 248 1,0186,118

ARE THERE ENOUGH
FESTIVALS NOW?
Every festival has upped their game to be
attractive and make the experience better
for the audience and the artist.
That has been a terrific spin off (of more
festivals joining the market). But, there
has been a levelling off. Three or four years
ago there was a new festival being
announced every week, but that has
definitely disappeared.
ARE FESTIVALS DOING ENOUGH
FOR GREEN CAUSES?
I personally feel that every individual
whatever their work space should try and
minimise their footprint.
As a small group of people we endeavour
to try and be better citizens.
We had a 30% reduction in energy usage
across all our festivals. That has been
better management of generators and
better control of the oil usage. It was as
simple as that and I think that will improve
this year because there are always other
things we are trying to do.
Also, a 30% reduction in fuel usage is, not
surprisingly, a 30% reduction in fuel costs
so there’s quite a benefit there.
WISH YOU
WERE HERE
47
Every festival
has upped
their game to
be attractive
Festival Republic is the organisation behind many festivals including Latitude and Reading 2013. Photograph by The Hell Gate / Corbis.
HOW IS THE FESTIVAL SCENE
RIGHT NOW?
Basically it feels very good to me. I couldn’t
find a reason to complain if I am honest with
you. We are surviving a disastrous economy
and you can’t describe it in any other way
than a disastrous economy.
People across the board are feeling the
pinch. People across the board are getting
pay increases at 1% or 2% less than the rate
of inflation.
People across the board are earning at
least the price of a couple of festival tickets
each year less than they were earning
the year before.
Yet the market is holding up.
WHY IS THAT?
In many ways you’d have to ask the
purchasing customer. But, ultimately there
is a phenomenal sense of community at a
festival. There is a sense of getting away
from the trappings of the pressures of life
and festivals represent incredibly good value
for what the ticket price is.
Even if you only saw five bands a day - and
most people would see a lot more than that
- a festival ticket remains incredible value.
If you have got an interest in music, if you’ve
got an interest in culture, I think the festival
ticket remains incredible value.
THERE HAVE BEEN SOME
INCREDIBLE FESTIVAL LINE-UPS
THIS YEAR; ARE ARTISTS HAPPIER
TO PLAY FESTIVALS NOWADAYS?
Festivals pay the artists relatively well and
a lot of artists play a lot of festivals. It is a
very good source of income. The artists
don’t have to carry sound and lights or have
a stage manager and production manager.
So it is a very economic way for an artists
to perform in front of either a committed
audience or a new audience. So from an
artists’ point of view - of course the agent
always wants more money from us - the
reality is festivals are very good value.
They are also able to get in front of large
numbers of people relatively inexpensively.
That’s sometimes better than traipsing up
and down the country night after night after
night and having to take your own sounds,
lights, stage manager, production manger,
dressing room manager, the whole lot.
That becomes incredibly expensive.
So I think for the artists it is incredibly great
value. Also, the acts get the opportunity to
catch up with other bands, listen to other
music and be influenced by other music.
Touring venues is quite a solitary and
isolated experience and the entire night
depends on just the one band as the main
reason for people to come in so there is a
big pressure there as well. At a festival if
you have a bad gig it doesn’t necessarily
spoil everyone’s fun.
IN FOCUS
PROMOTER
46 WISH YOU
WERE HERE
1
Melvin Benn,
Festival Republic
Managing Director

WISH YOU
WERE HERE
49
The economy
has a significant
impact on the
live sector.
1
Live music statistics are very sensitive to
factors beyond the control of promoters,
bands, managers and everyone else involved
in the production of concerts and festivals.
For example last year was the wettest
summer for 100 years and the second worst
on record; many parts of the country
experienced floods.
This would have had an impact on bookings
for festivals.
The economy has a significant impact on the
live sector. Average household income fell
in the last quarter of 2012 and this squeeze
on peoples’ pockets would also have been
felt at the box office.
The Olympic Games would also have
impacted on the sector. Leaving aside any
potential music fans, who would have spent
tickets on the Games (leaving less money for
booking festivals) this spectacle would
have kept many music fans glued to their
TV sets over the end of July and August.
Some music festivals were cancelled last
year and some tours delayed. This contrasts
with the Take That Progress Tour in 2011,
which was the UK’s biggest stadium tour
drawing over 1.7m fans.
Another factor that needs to be fed into
this is that Glastonbury took one of
its scheduled breaks last year. This
immediately takes out thousands of tickets
– and an enormous spend - from the
data studied.
However the sudden reappearance of the
Stone Roses and their successful shows
at Heaton Park in Manchester, would have
offset this some what.
These and other seasonal variations help
explain a 6% fall (17 million) in total
attendance at ticketed live music
events in 2012 compared to 2011, of which
41% (7 million) were music tourists. The
fall in the numbers of music tourists in 2012
was largely due to a weakening of the
domestic tourist market.
However, despite the economic gloom, the
absence of Glastonbury, the effect of the
Olympics, and the dismal weather, live
music continued to be a major draw for
tourists.
SENSITIVITY OF
LIVE MUSIC STATISTICS
MUSIC TOURISM
IN THE UK
Spending generated by music tourism feeds
into the wider economy and contributes to
the UK’s Gross Value Added (GVA).
In the case of live music tourism, direct
GVA was calculated by subtracting the
costs of staging the live music event
(excluding wages) from the revenue
generated by the event.
Indirect GVA took the calculation of indirect
spending and subtracted the costs of
production (excluding wages) further down
the supply chain.
In 2012 music tourism added a total of
£934m to the UK’s GVA, direct and indirect
combined.
Direct employment relates to the number of
equivalent full-time jobs created as a direct
result of a live concert or festival taking
place and relates to people being taken on
as security guards, merchandise sellers,
lighting riggers, box office staff, et cetera.
Several conventions to calculate full time
equivalent employment were applied: thus
two part time jobs (each taking 20 hours per
week) and four seasonal full time jobs
(lasting three months) were both taken
to equate to one full time job.
Indirect employment relates to the number
of jobs sustained as a result of economic
activity further along the supply chain,
but arising from demand created by
music tourism.
The calculations revealed that music
tourism directly and indirectly sustained
over 24,000 full time jobs.
ECONOMIC IMPACT
OF MUSIC TOURISM
48 WISH YOU
WERE HERE
Music tourism
sustained
over 24,000
full time jobs.
1
MUSIC TOURISM CONTRIBUTION TO THE ECONOMY
EXPENDITURE, GVA, EMPLOYMENT
SPENDING GVA
914 1,266 389 544 8,115 16,135
MUSIC TOURISM SPENDING MUSIC TOURISM GVA MUSIC TOURISM EMPLOYMENT
INDIRECT
DIRECT
£ OOO
2,000
1,500
1,000
500
0
JOBS
20,000
15,000
10,000
5,000
0
MUSIC TOURISM
IN THE UK
EMPLOYMENT

WHAT IS THE ETHOS
OF THE FESTIVAL?
End of the Road Festival offers an intimate
atmosphere to enjoy amazing music,
comedy and literature all scattered through-
out the grounds. Care and attention is paid
to all aspects of the festival, whether it's
providing quality food – which as much as
possible is organic and locally sourced - and
beer.
I think that our niche taste in music is the
main service we were able to provide our
audience that didn't quite exist in the same
way at any other festival before 2006. Our
aim was to create a perfect festival with
elements that were important to us. They
include an intimate atmosphere with a
friendly and relaxed vibe, not being
bombarded with adverts and brands, no
overhyped bands headlining, a platform
for new music, respectful staff and security
and plenty of clean toilets. I also think our
audience appreciate them.
Even the background music between bands
is carefully planned and we only book bands
that we love. The music spans across all
genres, although mainly focuses on indie,
country, folk, blues, electro and rock - but
anything goes, as long as it's good.
WHAT MADE YOU
DECIDE TO START?
I moved from Sweden to London in 1998 and
I had set a goal to work in the music industry.
However, once I got here I decided to get a
normal 9 to 5 job and keep music as a
passion outside of work. When my friend
Simon Taffe, who ran a painting and
decorating business at the time (and still
does), came up with the idea of starting our
own festival, I jumped at the chance of
giving my dream job a real go. Neither of us
had any background in the music industry
and starting the festival was an incredibly
steep learning curve and a lot of hard work.
WAS IT A SLOW BURN OR
SUCCESSFUL IMMEDIATELY?
The first year of a festival is so important.
If you fail to convince your audience of how
amazing your festival is in that first year it
will be a real struggle to grow. But, we
created a fantastic first year and even won
Best New Festival at the 2006 UK Festival
Awards. Our audience numbers more than
doubled in the second year thanks to word
of mouth because everyone who came to
the first End of the Road came back with
their mates in tow. When we started out we
aimed for a capacity of 5,000, which we
reached by year three. We are now at a
capacity of 10,000 and still selling out every
year. We feel this is a good size that still
allows us to create quality across all aspects
of the festival as well as keeping the
intimate atmosphere. Each year comes
with a lot of risk, including the weather,
competition from more and more festivals,
the state of the economy and finding the
right headliners, so we've constantly got to
work on making the festival even better.
WHAT DO YOU DO
TO STAY COMPETITIVE?
We continuously listen to our audience and
seek their feedback. We review each year's
festival and do our best to identify areas
where we can improve. We also have a lot
of brainstorming with our friends, which
helps come up with new ideas because it’s
important to keep things fresh and provide
an element of surprise.
IN FOCUS:
FESTIVAL
51WISH YOU
WERE HERE
Sofia Hagberg
End of the Road
Co-Founder
1
Our analysis studied how music tourism
impacted the English regions and Wales,
Scotland and Northen Ireland.
This study found that the capital alone
visits to the UK with 1.8m coming to visit
London.
With a total live music audience of 4.7m
in the capital, that meant that nearly 40%
of the punters at any gig from Camden
to Clapham were music tourists.
As the capital city, London is bound to top
the music tourism charts.
The World Cities Culture Report has mapped
the number of venues, dance halls and other
musical events in London. 28
It listed 349 live music venues. It also listed
music festivals such as Lovebox in Victoria
MUSIC TOURISM
IN THE NATIONS
& REGIONS
WISH YOU
WERE HERE
50
28
BOP Consulting Practt. A Oakley K (2012 The World Cities Culture Report, Greater London Authority)
29
Notting Hill Carnival: A Strategic Review 2004 Greater London Authority
Park, which the report suggested helped to
boost the number of musical performances
to just over 17,000.
The Notting Hill Carnival is not included
in Wish You Were Here’s scope (see
methodology), but it should be noted that it
is now the world’s second largest – and
Europe’s biggest – celebration of Caribbean
culture and attracts well over 1m visitors to
west London over the August bank holiday
period . 29
The carnival is chiefly music based with
well known DJs and radio stations such as
BBC Radio One taking a prominent part.
The strategic review estimated the
carnival’s economic impact could be more
than £90m.
Many of the visitors to the carnival are
probably tourists – both domestic and
overseas.

Nationally, on average 94% of music tourists
are domestic tourists, while 6% are overseas
music tourists.
This ratio was pretty consistent throughout
the regions, although London was a notable
exception. 11% of music tourists – around
194,000 - watching gigs in the capital were
from overseas compared to the national
average of 6%.
The North West drew in an impressive
45,000 music tourists from overseas - far
more than every other region apart from
london.
Scotland and the South West each pulled in
a notable number of overseas tourists.
26,000 visitors from overseas journeyed to
Scotland to attend a live music event, while
22,000 overseas visitors headed in the
opposite direction to live music hosted by
the South West.
The West Midlands was the fourth largest
region in terms of the number of overseas
music tourists, drawing a healthy 24,000
music lovers from abroad.
WISH YOU
WERE HERE
53
E MIDLANDS
WALES
N IRELAND
NORTH EAST
EAST OF ENGLAND
YORKS & THE HUMBER
SOUTH EAST
SOUTH WEST
SCOTLAND
WEST MIDLANDS
NORTH WEST
LONDON
REGIONAL BREAKDOWN OF MUSIC
TOURIST ATTENDANCE – DOMESTIC & OVERSEAS
0 500 1000 1500 2000
MUSIC TOURIST ATTENDANCE 000’s
DOMESTIC
OVERSEAS
MUSIC TOURISM
IN THE NATIONS & REGIONS
52 WISH YOU
WERE HERE
London is
the music
tourism
capital of the
UK attracting
1.8 million
music
tourists.
The North West
dominated music
tourism outside
of the capital,
accounting for
17% of all music
tourist visits
in the UK
in 2012.
1
London is the music tourism capital of the
UK attracting 1.8 million music tourists.
London alone accounted for 28% of all
music tourism visits in the UK in 2012.
The North West dominated music tourism
outside of the capital, accounting for 17% of
all music tourist visits in the UK in 2012.
The region drew in more than a million music
tourists out of a total live music audience
of 2.87m.
The West Midlands was the third largest
region in terms of total numbers of music
tourists, attracting 809,000 music tourists.
More interestingly, perhaps, is that music
tourists comprised 50% of all live music
audiences in the West Midlands on
average. Proportionally, this is much higher
than the national average of 41%.
Only the South East can claim a higher
proportion of music tourists relative to
locals at live music events. In the South
East, a whopping 53% of all live music
audiences were, on average, comprised
of music tourists.
Northern Ireland, the North East and Wales
arguably punched above their weight.
Despite their relatively modest
populations, they each attracted an
influx of nearly 200,000 music tourists.
E MIDLANDS
WALES
N IRELAND
NORTH EAST
EAST OF ENGLAND
YORKS & THE HUMBER
SOUTH EAST
SOUTH WEST
SCOTLAND
WEST MIDLANDS
NORTH WEST
LONDON
MUSIC TOURISM IN THE REGIONS & NATIONS
0 500 1000 1500 2000
MUSIC TOURISM
MUSIC TOURISM
ATTENDANCE IN
THE NATIONS & REGIONS

915,000 music tourists in the North West
went to concerts; 171,000 went to festivals.
In terms of pulling in live music tourists,
festivals ruled in the South East and East
England.
In the South East, 276,000 of the region’s
392,000 music tourists – 71% – went to
festivals.
In the East of England 66% of live music
tourists – representing around 185,000 fans
- lolled about at festivals; well above the
national average.
55WISH YOU
WERE HERE
1
In Wales, 45% of its 188,000 live music
tourists attended festivals.
The South West also had a higher
proportion of its music tourists attending
festivals relative to the national average,
even in a year when Glastonbury did not
take place.
41% of its 464,000 music tourists
population attended festivals compared to
the national average of 25%.
MUSIC TOURISM
Photograph by Istock image
54 WISH YOU
WERE HERE
1
1. BOP Consulting Practt. A Oakley K (2012 The World
E MIDLANDS
WALES
N IRELAND
NORTH EAST
EAST OF ENGLAND
YORKS & THE HUMBER
SOUTH EAST
SOUTH WEST
SCOTLAND
WEST MIDLANDS
NORTH WEST
LONDON
REGIONAL BREAKDOWN OF MUSIC
TOURIST ATTENDANCE – CONCERTS & FESTIVALS
0 500 1000 1500 2000
CONCERTS
FESTIVALS
dominated as the premium attraction for
music tourists.
With London boasting some of the greatest
gig venues in the world – and a relative dirth
of festivals within the M25 - it was no
surprise that 90% (1,622,000) of all live
music tourists attended gigs and concerts
in the capital city. That was much higher
proportion that the national average of
75%.
171,000 music tourists in the North East
were concert goers and just 23,000 went to
festivals.
680,000 of the music tourists in the
West Midlands were concert goers; the
remaining 129,000 went to festivals.
In the UK as a whole, far more music tourists
attended concerts and gigs than festivals.
This is not a surprise with the thousands of
gigs and concerts every night of the year.
However, music tourists comprise a higher
proportion of festival audiences. Again, this
is not a surprise as some (Glastonbury,
T in the Park) festivals are held in rural
locations with very small local populations.
Across the UK as a whole, the study revealed
75% of all music tourists attended a concert
in 2012, while a quarter attended music
festivals. But the regional analysis did show
some disparities.
In London, the North East, North West
and the West Midlands concerts and gigs
MUSIC TOURISM
MUSIC TOURIST
ATTENDANCE AT CONCERTS
VERSUS FESTIVALS

The chart above shows direct spend by
music tourists during the course of their visit
to the live music event.
Direct spend includes the price of a ticket to
a live show, food and drink, merchandising
such as T-shirts, accommodation (where
relevant), and ancillary items such as
parking charges and tent pitch charges.
A proportion of transportation costs was
also included.
London was once again in a class of its own.
Music tourists in the capital spent £322
million in 2012. Spending by music tourists
to the capital accounted for a quarter of all
music tourism spending in the UK.
Music tourists in the North West accounted
for 13% of all music tourism spending in the
UK, while spending by music tourists in the
South East accounted for 10%.
These are the only three regions, whose
contribution to the national figure reaches
double digit percentage points.
56 WISH YOU
WERE HERE
Spending by
music tourists
to the capital
accounted for
a quarter of all
music tourism
spending
in the UK.
1
NORTH EAST
N IRELAND
E MIDLANDS
WALES
YORKS & THE HUMBER
EAST OF ENGLAND
SCOTLAND
SOUTH WEST
WEST MIDLANDS
SOUTH EAST
NORTH WEST
LONDON
MUSIC TOURIST SPEND IN THE REGIONS
0 100 200 300 400
MUSIC TOURISTS SPENDING £ MILLIONS
MUSIC TOURISM
MUSIC TOURISM SPENDING
57WISH YOU
WERE HERE
1
NORTH EAST
N IRELAND
E MIDLANDS
WALES
YORKS & THE HUMBER
EAST OF ENGLAND
SCOTLAND
SOUTH WEST
WEST MIDLANDS
SOUTH EAST
NORTH WEST
LONDON
REGIONAL BREAKDOWN OF DIRECT EXPENDITURE
– BY DOMESTIC & OVERSEAS MUSIC TOURISM
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350
MUSIC TOURISTS SPENDING £ MILLIONS
DOMESTIC
OVERSEAS
It was no surprise that overseas music
tourists spent a lot more during the course
of their visit than a UK resident music
tourist.
They usually have to fork our more for
transportation and accommodation costs
because they have to travel further and
usually stay in an area longer.
Overseas music tourists visiting London
accounted for a massive 38% of all music
tourism spending in the capital, well above
the national average.
The £123 million these overseas music
tourists spent in London accounted for 10%
of all music tourism spending across the
whole of the UK last year.
Spend by overseas music tourists in each of
the North West, South West and Scotland
regions accounted for 16% of the total
music tourism spend in that region.
While overseas music tourists to the East
Midlands and North East contributed a
relatively modest £5 million and £4 million
respectively towards total music tourism
spending in the region, as a proportion,
their spending represented 12% and 14%
of the regional total.
Spending by
overseas music
tourists in the
South East and
West Midlands
amounted to
a healthy £15
million while
overseas tourists
spent £11m in
the East of
England.
MUSIC TOURISM
SPENDING BY OVERSEAS
MUSIC TOURISTS

Music Tourism in UK: $3.5 Billion Spent Every Year

Music Tourism in UK: $3.5 Billion Spent Every Year

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